1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to window coverings and, more particularly, to temporary window shades.
2. Description of the Prior Art
New home owners and renters very often find that they must wait a long period of time before they are able to install new shades or draperies in their windows. This is especially true in the case of custom-made draperies, since the process of measuring, ordering and stitching the drapery materials is quite lengthy, but not even ready-made draperies can be purchased immediately, since they are somewhat expensive and since the buyer needs time to shop around before finally selecting permanent drapes. Thus, in order to protect their privacy as well as to block out bright sunlight, new homeowners frequently resort to temporary measures such as hanging sheets or pasting up newspapers or the like over their windows. Such measures are usually unsatisfactory, however, as the sheets or newspapers are a nuisance to put up and tend to detract from the appearance of the house. In addition, there is no convenient means for raising and lowering these types of window coverings. Thus, the homeowner can not vary the amount of light shining through the windows as is possible with conventional curtains or blinds.
The closest known prior art attempt to solve the above problems is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,655 to Ogino. The Ogino patent discloses a temporary paper curtain having a first strip of stiffener material attached to its top edge and a second strip of stiffener material attached to its bottom edge. The first strip serves as an attachment strip for attaching the curtain to a wall, and the second strip serves as a stiffening and weighting device to ensure that the curtain hangs correctly. in one embodiment of the invention, bores are provided through each of the stiffener strips, and a plurality of vertically spaced apart holes are provided along one side of the paper sheet, with a pull cord passing through the bores and the aligned holes to allow the curtain to be raised and lowered. However, this means for raising and lowering the curtain is not entirely satisfactory, since the process of boring holes in the stiffener strips and threading the pull cord through the sheet adds to the cost and complexity of manufacturing the product.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved temporary window shade which overcomes some of the shortcomings of the prior art.